What is the difference between

Every weekend, there are tournaments all over this state and really all over the country for the most part. Just looking at our state and when you go and read the results you will usually see the same guys either winning or in the money in the events they fish. What is the difference between those guys and the guys who are good but just seem not to be able to take that next step. With all the information we have availible to us on almost any body of water, what sets apart a guy who consisitly cashes checks or a guy who is close but just misses by a few pounds. Is it equipment? Is it time management on tournament day? Is it fish found pre fishing? I mean for the most part, all are pretty good fishermen who study and prepare properly for a event so it just had me cwondering what is that little extra that some have?

time on water

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/8862868/Re_WARNING#Post8862868

Watch the videos. G-Man talks about KVD and his mental "game".

We all have a rod, a reel and a lure....they all catch fish the same from one person to the next. It's simple....you cast and reel, fish bites, you reel in the fish. Repeat. It's what you have going on "upstair" that makes the difference.

I think a lot of it is confidence and simply outworking everyone else. I know I have the work ethic and I spend a ton of time on the water but I lack the confidence part. Its frustrating as hell not to have better results than I do. My hat is off to those that are consistently winning and it gives me something to strive for.

I know at times I am my worst enemy by trying to hard....learn to relax and go fishing......

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In order to excel you need to be determined, stay focused, AND be obsessed. Acquire this mindset, and proceed to fish for many years, and at some point you will either begin to outperform the competition, or go back to hobby fishing.
I did it in auto racing (dirt track wingless sprint cars). Then, I turned it into a business.
I also did it in flying certain missions, in a certain type of jet aircraft.
Fishing? I insist on keeping it at the hobby stage.

This has been my life question also and from my experience on Falcon, Amistad and Ivie it comes down to the locals doing the best in the tournaments that count. They seem to have a network of friends that also fish these tournaments. They work together as a click to get the job done. Shareing information and fishing holes to win first, second and third in the tournaments.
Three, four and more guys on the water daily will just about shut the weekend angler out of the paycheck everytime. Sure I got down there several times and worked my tail off for a week and was able to compete but not on a regular basis. It was always the the same group of guys taking the top three paychecks with the hard working guy like myself coming in there somewhere once in a while.
Don't we just love donating to these fisherman. This is a big reason that I wish I had invested all that money into Mexico trips on a regular basis. Those frequent trips was not able to happen because of work, which caused me to donate more than I won. Tournaments were just to keep up the habbit; but not anymore. I am happy now to go to Mexico ever chance I get. It seems that 3 or 4 trips down South is enough to keep up the habbit as I have wised up. It just took me 30 years to get it through this thick head.

I think confidence has so much to do with it also, when you are riding high and cofident it just seems like its golden but when you lose that confidence, that edge is maybe when you start slipping and then you start pressing and then pressing to hard equals mistakes and you just cant afford those with the great group that fishes against you week in and week out. Now how do you restore that confidence, what steps?

I think it comes down to 3 things. One is time on the water, being mentally tough, and the main thing is decisions on tournament day. It's all about making the right decisions that day.

90% mental think about how much of your day you are completely focused. We all miss a lot of bites but the best miss less.

Equipment is also important as is finding fish.

My biggest issues is that i can find them but it seems in bigger tournaments the wheels just fall off. Had two BWs events one last year and then Tawakoni a few weeks ago where I had the fish for a win or Top 3 finish and could not keep them buttoned up. Just flukey stuff happens in those events for me. At this point its gotta be mental. I do just fine in Media. BLT etc with the same if not more boats in them but its like I am cursed in the BWS. Its weird but again its got to be mental.

+1. The guy cashing the check is more mentally aware and knows exactly what happened at the time he caught a fish and can repeat it. That mental edge helps them hone in on a pattern a little faster than the competition which in turn leads to more wins. Focus goes a long way.

DHolding,

I think in addition to time on the water and a focused mindset to win, there are a lot of other little things that also make a big difference:

* Changing your line frequently...How many times do you lose the big one due to the line breaking?

* Having sharp hooks...How many times have you noticed your hooks had a bent point after your fish is lost due to the barb not penatrating properly?

* Being quite...How many times do we spook fish with unnecessary noise: banging into stumps, dropping the trolling motor into the water, creating a major wake by stopping the boat 10 feet from where we intend to fish, casting the lure 30' in the air to splash down instead of easing it into the water, etc.?

* Getting too close to the fish...How many times, in clear water, do you see the fish swim away just under the boat?

* Improper lure presentation...How many times do we cast in areas that we could not possibly retrieve the fish when he bites only to say "she wrapped me around a limb, the pier, the grass, etc. and I lost her"?

* Leaving an area holding fish...How many times did we leave an area holding fish to try the "greener pasture" when we might could have just changed lures or the presentation to improve the bite?

* Using the right equipment...How many times were the rods too limber for worm hook sets or reel retreive ratios to high for slow presentation baits because we did not want to take the time to put the right bait on the right rod with the right reel.

After talking with many many anglers who weigh their fish in at our tournaments, these are the little things that most all the consistant money winning anglers do that keep the fish on and get them into the live well. Having the ability to be versatile in their bait selections while trying to locate the fish instead of trying to force feed the fish what they believe the fish want to eat is also one of their key strengths.

Food for thought,
BLT staff

Boy, that sounds just like rayburn tourneys. I think it depends on what trail you fish also. If you fish a local trail that are all on the same lake or same few lakes theres a different key to success i think. The local ringers are a tight knit group that all share info to stay on top. They drop brush or other fish holding things and keep them up yearly. They put in hard work but typically when put on a different lake, cant perform as well as at home. Then there are trails that are different lakes each year. I believe this is where better anglers shine. Not that there isnt info sharing or guys with friends pre fishing for them during off limits, but they have to be more well rounded as an angler. They have to be able to catch fish in any water color under any condition. Lets just say rayburn for example, its basically the same baits every year winning. You get stuck in that same lake patterns as a local guy and thats hard to shake.

Confidence in your ability to catch the fish you know are in an area and also 100% confidence in your ability to adapt on the water on any given day. IMO, you have to be committed to your decisions, most good anglers have the ability to find fish, the better ones seem to have the confidence that they can catch those fish when it matters.

I have been fortunate to have gotten to pick the brains of some very good anglers and a common theme from all is that when they know the winning fish are in an area, they have the confidence and patients to spend the time catch them...

luck

1.)Decision on the water are the most important. Being able to adapt and change with confidence if need be.

2.)Landing each fish.

3.) Good Luck...

Time on the water should ring your obsession bell. Does it ring loudly or is it just an echo in the far off distance. If your obsession passes the test then you may actually be one of those river rats. At this point one needs to answer the question of whether you want to quench the obsession, nurse the obsession or pour some gasoline under it and ignite it. If your answer is the latter then you must think only one thing at a time. The first is to know the fish and be able to relate to them. If you've made it this far then it doesn't matter where you are or what the conditions are like. With this knowledge your only concern is each and every bit of tangible property between your casting hand and the fish. You have to present properly your offering , period. Second guessing is not an attribute of confidence. It is a symptom of failing to acquire the above. I can't do it very well but when I can get the planets to line up right I do well. what it means for me is my lack of ability to reduce distractions. These distractions come in a myriad of forms and when I ignore them I do my thing which usually leaves me fairly satisfied at the end of the day. I'm not saying I have a great resume of wins but I know that for me I have to be obsesses, focused, and then pursue with complete attention to all things between me and the fish. I know it sounds like a copout but I don't succeed many times because I defer to other responsibilities instead of just being one track minded . It's hard to put my wife and kids on a back plate while I go try to conquer the world one fish at a time. I know guys who are successful who have their entire little world wrapped around their fishing pursuits. I can't do that and for those that can my hat is off to them.

Most importantly, it's probably mental.

Secondly, I would say its the guys who have all the little things down to an art. Boat positioning, netting, good hooks sets, being able to adapt on the fly, etc.

I think knowledge is the key because it breeds confidence. The more you know about the pattern, lake, and fish, the more confident you are in what you're doing. You are more able to adjust what you're doing to fit the situation. You will know not only what you need to do, but how to do it.

After years of trying to answer this question myself I have come to the conclusion that they are good and I stink.

So the guys that win are not hard working guys like yourself? I love posts like this. Its just not fair! LOL

My opinion on this is that the guys that win alot are better fisherman than me, work harder at it, or both. All this poor me stuff, I cant compete with the locals because I'm a hard working guy, is all excuses for failure.

Confidence, trusting intuition and being able to make the right decisions when things change. All the guys that do well spend lots of time on the water and are proficient with their equipment. It's those other intangibles that make the difference between winning and just cutting a check.

Two things I wanted to say on this, as I agree 100 % with most of it. Being quiet is a top factor this time of year. It amazes me how many people wonder why fish are so skiddish on beds when they have 3 different sonars pinging in 2 ft of water. Turn the graphs off and a lot of fish will calm down in shallow water.

Presentation, I agree to a point, but sometimes the difference in the winner, is getting the bite that no one else tried for because they were affraid to hang up. I won a tournament this year on an "impossible" spot over a cable. That is why I fish the 30 lb braid and 20 lb flouro leader on a spinning rod and finesse rig. I got the 7 lb fish before it broke me off and it put my weight over the top. With out that cast, I could not have reached that fishor would have caught it, and I would have been around 5th place instead of 1st.

I believe what Mr. Harper meant was that it is harder on him than it is locals because they can be on the water daily and he cannot because he works in a different location. In that situation the locals definitely have the upper hand IMO. I'm in the same boat and the tournaments I fish usually end up the same way every time, the locals or guys that have a house on the lake are always taking the top spots. Are they better fishermen than I am? Yes I believe that they are, but again it comes back to being on the water daily. I have confidence in my ability and if I was able to be on a body of water daily then I do believe my chances would greatly improve to be in the money.

Experience is the difference. The guys winning were on the losing end in the past. Experience makes you better.

Tree, I know what he meant. All lakes have locals. Every tournament will have guys competing that get to prefish alot. Nothing new. So you either stay in the game and work at getting better or you make excuses and quit.

Maybe I am the only one but, damn I get tired of reading your reply's about "wishing you would of spent all your money on 3 or 4 trips to Mexico a year".

It doesn't seem to matter the topic you can find a way to lead into that.

Eric I fish amistad and you have too admit three or four teams are going two get you unless you get lucky and find the big fish

Great question!

What separates the men from the boys. I believe the easiest way to explain it is by looking at the game of golf...yes golf, the other frustrating game with lots of weekend warriors. Many are great on their local course, many talk a great game, very few are competitive on tournament day or off familiar turf. Tournament competition in any sport exposes weaknesses in your game. Most folks that are not professionals spend their time working on their strengths and hoping they don't have to depend on their weaknesses. The best of the best have very few weaknesses, the complete game. Until you get to the level of being able to play every club in the bag with confidence, you'll never have real confidence. Same for bass fishing or any type of fishing. If you are praying to land just one more fish, you ain't there yet. Just another opinion.

I believe a lot of guys,including me, get out of their zone when they fish a tournament on a lake they think they know a little about but aren't quite sure.They overthink everything. I may try using the latest greatest baits that I have caught very few fish on.I may think about trying techniques that I don't normally fish.The guys I know that seem to do the best just fish their strengths. Nobody wins them all but if you just do what you know best I think your odds improve.

. THIS

EVERY lake has a group of locals that are hard to beat. The idea that they share info in order to consistently grab the top few spots is just another excuse. They are trying to beat each other. I really rubs me wrong when guys look for excuses other than they aren't good enough to compete and yes some guys are just that good. If you truly think luck is your only chance, then you need to drop down to another level of competition. But if you choose to compete where the good fishermen are, don't make excuses when you get beat.